Editing Flaming (Internet) (section)

===Flame war===
A flame war results when multiple users engage in provocative responses to an original post, which is sometimes flamebait. Flame wars often draw in many users, including those trying to defuse the flame war, and can quickly turn into a mass flame war that overshadows regular forum discussion.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

Resolving a flame war can be difficult, as it is often hard to determine who is really responsible for the degradation of a reasonable discussion into a flame war. Someone who posts a contrary opinion in a strongly focused discussion forum may be easily labeled a "baiter", "flamer", or "troll".<ref> Koiranen, I., Koivula, A., Malinen, S., & Keipi, T. (2022). Undercurrents of echo chambers and flame wars: party political correlates of social media behavior. Journal of Information Technology & Politics., 19(2), 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2021.1950095</ref>

Flame wars can become intense and can include "death threats, [[ad hominem]] invective, and textual amplifiers,” but to some sociologists flame wars can actually bring people together. What is being said in a flame war should not be taken too seriously since the harsh words are a part of flaming.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Jane|first=Emma A.|date=2015-03-01|title=Flaming? What flaming? The pitfalls and potentials of researching online hostility|journal=Ethics and Information Technology|language=en|volume=17|issue=1|pages=65–87|doi=10.1007/s10676-015-9362-0|s2cid=14404033|issn=1572-8439|url=https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/33ebb75a-5dec-4ca3-875e-36c049b36665/download }}</ref>

An approach to resolving a flame war or responding to flaming is to communicate openly with the offending users. Acknowledging mistakes, offering to help resolve the disagreement, making clear, reasoned arguments, and even self-deprecation have all been noted as worthwhile strategies to end such disputes. However, others prefer to simply ignore flaming, noting that, in many cases, if the flamebait receives no attention, it will quickly be forgotten as forum discussions carry on.<ref name="reid" /> Unfortunately, this can motivate trolls to intensify their activities, creating additional distractions.

"Taking the bait" or "feeding the troll" refers to someone who responds to the original message regardless of whether they are aware the original message was intended to provoke a response. Often when someone takes the bait, others will point this out to them with the [[acronym]] "YHBT", which is short for "You have been trolled", or reply with "don't feed the trolls". Forum users will usually not give the troll acknowledgment; that just "feeds the troll".